Welcome to my study log. I will be documenting my progress toward my goals and travels in Japan for this weird period of time in my life. I just graduated and my job does not start until January of 2025, so I decided the one thing I am going to get really good at in that time is Japanese. Ideally, coming out of this process I will take the N3 in December of this year, as well as enjoy the media I want to comfortably.
For summer, my goals are as follows:
Read through the entirety of the Yotsuba manga in Japanese (6/15)
Complete all N4 grammar and vocabulary on Bunpro
Work through Quartet 1 (I have done Genki 1/2 up until now)
Be in a good place conversationally for my time in Japan (Sept - Nov)
My daily routine as stands is:
Wanikani max speed as possible
Bunpro 2 grammar points and 15 vocabulary items
Some kind of reading (one Yotsuba chapter or 2 NHK News Easy articles)
I need to add some kind of listening for my level but have been struggling to find something I enjoy-- any ideas?
As for speaking I am going to look on iTalki/Tandem for a practice partner-- how has anyoneās experience been with this?
Honestlyā¦ itās not on par with the amount of vocabulary or kanji I know. Iāve done some of the N5 listening tests on YouTube and can get most (90%~) right, but when I jump to N4 I barely understand anything.
I like games and anime but feel itās too much of a jump, or should I just brute force it with Japanese subtitles even if I donāt understand much?
Nice! Where are you at? We can work at it together
I do wonder, how does this happen? I havenāt yet heard of a single job that wouldnāt be able to accomodate someone instantly.
As with reading, I like the āget thrown in the deep end and try to not drownā approach personally.
For very low level stuff, the Nihongo con Teppei is a good introduction to spoken content, though it does have a sudden difficulty spike early on Iāve found.
As for other content, the difficulty of native material is roughly like so
manga < anime < books < audiobooks
If you can already read basic manga, the next logical step would be jumping into anime. Of course, with Japanese subtitles. Itās easier than you think, since at any point, you can just stop, analyze the single sentence thatās in front of you and break it down if you need, but you also get proper pronunciations with it.
The important thing is that you shorten the time you need to go from a sentence you donāt know to looking up what the words in there are. Thatās the way that will likely give you the most enjoyment in the process, otherwise it might feel like busywork. This will depend on what platform you watch anime on, and what you have access to though.
For beginning listening material, Comprehensible Japanese, Daily Japanese with Naoko, and Nihongo-learning really saved me. Thereās also Nihongo con Teppei if you like podcasts.
It will be a big jump to watching anime or letās plays, but Yomitan works on Youtube subtitles, and there are ways to use it on Netflix. Something else you could try is rewatching something youāre already very familiar with, with Japanese subtitles. This way, since you already know whatās happening, you can focus completely on listening, and when you donāt understand something, the subtitles are there to help.
Iāve finished volume 4 of Yotsuba, so basically at the same place as you. Iāll try to keep up with you!
Iām in accounting and job start dates post-graduation tend to be in the fall because they want to give people time after they graduate but before they start work to complete their license examinations but also because they arenāt needed until later in the year. Big firms also donāt need the extra help until closer to the winter when busy season starts (at least in auditing), so they push training to closer before that. I already finished my exams though and my job is different so time to study Japanese instead
I might follow you on this, itās what got me to a point where I can comfortably enjoy manga too (or at least easy manga like Yotsuba). I appreciate the recommendations! Like with other things I feel in Japanese at a certain point there is no one ābestā way to do it, just got to do something that pushes me further!
Iāll give those a look! I also completely forgot that Quartet came with listening as well-- itās been a couple of years since Iāve touched Genki to be honest. Yomitan seems very useful as well!
Iāll keep you updated on my Yotsuba progress! I feel I have reached a point where the NHK articles are pretty straightforward and boring outside of the one or new vocab in them, so probably going to be reading just that a lot in the coming weeks.
Wellā¦ one month later and I have not entirely kept up with everything that I set out, but that is not to say I have given up! I will get my N3 this December no matter what! Other life update I started dating my best friend so that took a little extra unexpected time
As for my progress updateā¦ I have leveled up only twice in Wanikani, but if I can reach around level 40 by December I think I can learn the remaining N3 kanji. I am making good progress in my vocab and grammar decks on Bunpro, only a couple more N4 grammar and almost 70% done with the N4 vocabulary.
Yotsuba I am working through volume 6 now! The beach chapters in volume 5 were my favorite so far, especially because I got to read them while at the beach with family so it felt fitting.
Lastlyā¦ listening and speaking are finally going to stop being neglectedā¦ I swear!
I use Wanikani as a vocab supplement too (I know itās not the main use!) so itāll help build up my vocab as I keep leveling up until then too. I sync to Bunpro to mark out the vocab I learn on Wanikani though to make sure Iām hitting everything for N3 more comprehensively
Howeverā¦ I have been noticing that some vocab on Bunpro in their N-decks doesnāt match up to Jishoā¦ like at all. Has anyone had success following their decks to pass any N-level?
I find every kind of listening to be useful. The good thing is that you can listen passively while doing other stuff. You can try podcasts, music, youtube videos (I enjoy lets plays).
The biggest step at the beginning is to just get used to the sounds, trying to get a feel for when a word starts and ends. Even if you dont understand everything because you donāt know the words or the grammar, it doesnt matter. The main thing with listening practice is the rhythm, the feel, the patterns. For that you need a lot of input so I recommend to listen to something whenever you can.
WaniKani is by far the favorite part of my routineā¦ something about knowing I am doing all of something with a set end goal feels fulfilling to me. Level 27 means I officially know all of the N4 kanji apparently, so another step toward N3!
Been texting with my Japanese friends and setting up some calls with them, alongside my first Preply lessonā¦ so making progress toward speaking and listening in that regard! Not that I really have any way to measure this, but for now I will trust the process.
Lastly, finished Yotsuba volume 6! I really enjoyed how all the chapters in this volume flowed together, from the bike to the milk and its delivery chapter to the cabinet building and Yotsuba earning her bike privilege back (even without å čر!)
Full speed ahead on WaniKaniā¦ hopefully I can keep it up! Knowing kanji for new words even outside of WaniKani definitely makes them easier to learn.
Continuing to get practice my speaking and listening through conversations. No way to really have a metric to track here, but I will just enjoy the process!
Havenāt started on Yotsuba volume 7, but honestly might look for some other reading to supplement. I want to see more kanji
Approaching the end of Deathā¦ but Hell awaits. I doubt I will keep to my once a week level up for this next week as I will be traveling to visit my girlfriend, but I will at least keep up with my reviews.
The Preply lessons Iāve started are helping me a lot. I am still neglecting listening a lot, but speaking and my overall comprehension is definitely improving. I did some N3 mock questions and was fine to pass on the vocabulary, kanji, and grammar questions, but the listening I literally missed them allā¦ so not that I needed another reminder to practice that but there it was.
This past week I also finally finished the N4 grammar points on Bunpro! Should be good to go to wrap up all the N4 vocabulary (aside from that Iāll learn from WK) in the next month.
Last update, I got a volunteer position in Japan! So ideally that will force me to use Japanese as I throw myself into a situation where I am surrounded by it.
When I started WaniKani in the summer after covid, I had no knowledge of Japanese other than hiraganaā¦ now that I know 1000+ kanji, I still feel like I know nothing! But if I donāt give up then I havenāt quit. Many resets, breaks, and life events got in the way up until now, but we are full steam ahead!
I have pretty much finished up the N4 vocab deck on Bunpro, so another goal down! Time to cram as much in for the rest of this month so I donāt have to worry about studying as much when Iām in Japan
The milestones accomplished at my favorite part of the journey. They are what make every grind to the next step worthwhile, and offer a great place to look back on how far youāve come. If youāre reading this, take a second to think how impressed who you were when you started would be if they knew where you are now!
Registered for the N3! Iām making good headway with the Bunpro N3 vocab and grammar decks, but still have a ways to go. I know once I get to Japan my progress is going to come to a halt, but I think I am almost at a spot where I wonāt have an overwhelming amount I still need to study while traveling.
Practice tests will be a different issue in late November once I get back, but assuming my listening gets on par from my travels, I think I will be in shape come December to at least pass.
My goal with WaniKani has shifted to getting to level 35 by December 1st as well. I should be able to level up twice going maximum speed in these next two weeks, putting me at the start of level 33 when I depart, so one level a month will be my new assumed speed while stacking on the Bunpro reviews instead. I might end up going faster, but once I reach 35 Iām easing off kanji learning until after the N3.
Until level 32, Iām this far in so no reason to stop now!
I fell off my studies hard coming to Japan. Who would have thought being in the country speaking the language meant I was learning less than before? I have learned a lot nonetheless, but just everyday terms with traveling and working here, so not great for the N3, but still great for my overall Japanese!
With work I get to speak everyday and interact in native situations, which has been a ton of fun to actually put my Japanese to the test. No matter how slow I go or how long it takes for my study goals, we see how far this I can take this! I will definitely not make it through the N3 Bunpro vocab deck, but maybe I can slide by with a pass knowing around half of it?
Until level 33, which will ideally happen in less than the previous level time (50 days!)
